John M. Wentworth, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., from Monash University in Clayton, Australia, and colleagues reported five-year outcomes of a randomized trial of laparoscopic adjustable gastric band (GB) surgery in overweight, but not obese, Australians with T2D of less than five years' duration. Twenty-two participants were randomized to GB combined with medical care and 23 to medical care alone (MED).

The researchers found that over five years of the study, the average weight loss was 12.2 and 1.8 percent in GB and MED participants, respectively. Diabetes remission was seen in 23 and 9 percent of GB and MED participants, respectively, at five years. GB participants used fewer glucose-lowering medications and they had 10.4 mmol/mol lower hemoglobin A1c than MED participants over five years of follow-up. In the context of less frequent use of lipid-lowering drugs, the mean high-density lipoprotein cholesterol was 0.24 mmol/L higher and triglycerides 0.7 mmol/L lower in GB participants, while low-density lipoprotein cholesterol was 0.5 mmol/L higher. Quality of life and health utility showed early and sustained improvement in the GB group.

"Sustained WL of 10 percent body weight is a powerful therapy for overweight but not obese people with T2DM," the authors write.

A grant from Allergan was received by the Center for Obesity Research and Education at Monash University, which funded the study. Allergan also donated the lap-band prostheses used in the study.